ねのびしにかすみたなびくのべに出でてはつ鶯のこゑをききつる
| ne no bi shi ni kasumi tanabiku nobe ni idete hatsu uguisu no koe o kikitsuru | For the Day of the Rat to, Spread with haze, The plains I went, and The first warbler’s Cry did hear. |
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Tag Archives: day of the rat
Sankashū I: 15
子日する人にかすみはさきだちてこまつがはらをたなびきてけり
| ne no bisuru hito ni kasumi wa sakidachite komatsu ga hara o tanabikitekeri | On the Day of the Rat Before folk has the haze Arisen, and Across the pine seedling plains Drawn up.[i] |
[i] See: Topic unknown. あさみどりのべのかすみのたなびくにけふのこ松をまかせつるかな asamidori / nobe no kasumi no / tanabiku ni / kyō no komatsu o / makaseturu kana ‘Pale green / Across the plains the haze / Does draw, so / Today, the pine seedlings / I will leave to it!’ Minister of Public Affairs Tsunenobu (Goshūishū I: 30). Both poems are built around a play-on-words: one of the Day of the Rat activities was to pull (draw) up (hiku 引く) pine seedlings (as mentioned above). This is echoed in the verb used to describe the haze spreading across the plains, tanabiku 棚引く (‘spread out at length horizontally’).
Sankashū I: 6
When the New Year’s Day was the Day of the Rat.[i]
ねのびしてたてたる松にうゑそへんちよかさぬべきとしのしるしに
| ne no bi shite tatetaru matsu ni uesoen chiyo kasanubeki toshi no shirushi ni | ‘Tis the Day of the Rat, so Standing, pines Let us plant, That a thousand ages will mount up As a sign this year![ii] |
[i] On the first Day of the Rat of the year, aristocrats would go out and gather a range of medicinal plants to brew a tonic to ward off ill health in the coming year. Among these were pine seedlings, which were displayed as symbols of longevity.
[ii] See: For the Day of the Rat celebrations at the palace in Eihō 4 [1084]. ねのびする野べのこまつをうつしうゑて年のをながく君ぞ引くべき ne no bi suru / nobe no komatsu o / utsushi’uete / toshi no o nagaku / kimi zo hikubeki ‘For the Day of the Rat / Pine seedlings from the plains / We transplant, that / The long thread of their years / Will draw our Lord with them!’ Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Michitoshi (Shinkokinshū VII: 729)
SKKS VII: 729
For the Day of the Rat celebrations at the palace in Eihō 4 [1084].
ねのびする野べのこまつをうつしうゑて年のをながく君ぞ引くべき
| ne no bi suru nobe no komatsu o utsushi’uete toshi no o nagaku kimi zo hikubeki | For the Day of the Rat Pine seedlings from the plains We transplant, that The long thread of their years Will draw our Lord with them! |
Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Michitoshi
San’i minamoto no hirotsune ason uta’awase 1
Pine seedlings on the Day of the Rat (子日小松)
Left
ねの日する松の葉ごとにかぞふれば猶ぞつきせぬきみが千とせは
| ne no hi suru matsu no ha goto ni kazoureba nao zo tsukisenu kimi ga chitose wa | On this Day of the Rat Every single pine needle I count, but Still the number would not exhaust The millennia of my Lord… |
A Court Lady
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Right
はるかなる君がよはひにくらべむと子日の松をけふは引くかな
| harukanaru kimi ga yowai ni kurabemu to ne no hi no matsu o kyō wa hiku kana | Distant is My Lord’s age: To what might it compare? Why The Rat Day pines that We pick today! |
A Court Lady
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